News and Media

WASHINGTON – Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, President and Secretary-Treasurer of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued this statement in response to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s announcement of a historic bridge investment program, made possible by the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: “We applaud the Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration […]

WASHINGTON – Greg Regan and Shari Semelsberger, President and Secretary-Treasurer of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issued this statement after the Senate confirmed Amit Bose as Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA): “We welcome Mr. Bose’s stewardship of the FRA at this pivotal moment in the history of the domestic rail industry and rail […]

As reported by Progressive Railroading

The Transportation Trades Department AFL-CIO (TTD) last week announced the affiliation of three more unions: the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees (BMWED), both divisions of the Rail Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.

As reported by Keith Laing for Bloomberg News

Labor leaders say that lawmakers need to address the impact on safety and the workforce before allowing automated trucks to be widely used.

“We would be naive to think we could stop technological advancement. That’s never been our goal,” said Greg Regan, president of the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department. “But we have to make sure it’s implemented in a safe way and we have to make sure that we’re also looking at the economic impact of deployment.”

John Samuelsen, international president of the Transport Workers Union, said in a statement that Congress will have to grapple with the impact of self-driving technology on commercial drivers.

WASHINGTON – The Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), America’s largest coalition of transportation labor unions, today announced the affiliation of three more unions, bringing the coalition’s total membership to 36 affiliated unions. TTD proudly welcomes the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes (BMWED), both divisions of the […]

Washington, D.C. — Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), released this statement following Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s announcement of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Innovation Principles: “The DOT’s Innovation Principles are a reflection of President Biden’s values and represent a major shift in policy focused on centering workers and unions in […]

As reported by Kirstin Downey for Honolulu Civil Beat

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic and as news reports describe the plight of foreign seamen marooned aboard abandoned ships elsewhere in the world, the Jones Act has given Hawaii extra insulation.

Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, said railroads cut 20% of their workforces between 2014 and 2019 and reduced their fleet of locomotives to save money, leaving themselves without adequate capacity or enough workers to convey goods smoothly when business rebounded. Trucking companies replaced union drivers with independent contractors, he said, and many of those workers dropped out when bottlenecks at the ports made their work unprofitable.

As reported by Steven Overly for Politico

Long-term fixes will require major changes to how supply chains are operated and regulated, labor and industry officials say. Now that attention is shifting away from an imminent holiday crisis, they are leaning on Biden to address long-standing issues related to workers’ rights, market competition and insufficient logistics technology.

“We will not have solved this problem when there are no boats sitting idle off the coast of our country and when we’re not overloaded with containers in yards and in warehouses,” said Greg Regan, president of the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department. “The problem is only going to be solved if we deal with the structural issues here, and I have faith that this administration is going to do that.”

As reported by Eugene Mulero for Transport Topics

Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department at AFL-CIO, reminded senators of the role of labor: “The pursuit of a more efficient supply chain cannot be an excuse to eliminate or deconstruct critical regulatory safeguards, such as fatigue protections, or to water down carefully crafted training and qualification requirements.”

Washington, DC — Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD), issues this statement in response to yesterday’s Senate confirmation of Deirdre Hamilton as a Member of the National Mediation Board: “The Senate confirmation of Deirdre Hamilton to the National Mediation Board (NMB) brings meaningful change to the lives of frontline rail and […]